Thirty three students from seventeen different Woodard schools took part in the finals of Woodard Musician of the Year 2017 at The Elgar Hall University of Birmingham on Saturday, 6 May. The performances were to a very high standard and much enjoyed by all those present.
The panel of judges was led by the musical legend Julian Lloyd Webber, Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire, together with Timothy Hall of The Cathedral School and Ann Pattrick of Alderley Edge School for Girls.
The judges awarded the Senior Trophy to Ashley Johnston of Ardingly College who sang and played on the guitar a composition of her own “Stranger”, and the Junior Trophy was awarded to George Crawford from King’s School Rochester who played “En Irelande” on the French Horn. The runners-up in the Senior Section were Seren Devismes from Ellesmere College and Eden Lloyd from Bishop of Hereford’s Blue Coat School. The runners up in the Junior Section were Lily Hesper-Dudgale from St Marylebone CE School and George Crawford King’s School, Rochester.
Canon Brendan Clover, Senior Provost of Woodard Schools, said “The challenge for Woodard Schools is always around the value added that being part of a group of schools can offer pupils and teachers alike. In February we heard 1000 Woodard Voices in Birmingham Symphony Hall, and at the Elgar Hall we heard some astonishing soloists. These are experiences individual schools could never offer, and part of what makes this group so special. As I said on the day everyone is a winner simply by being selected for the finals from some many applicants”.
Pictured: Megan Wilkinson from The Peterborough School (photographer: Mrs H McKillop)